The Crystal Star

  The second generation of the New Republic is now taking flight. This is the first time real personalities are given to the Solo Twins. A story was dedicated to them in the trilogy of Jedi Academy but not much was reviled of their personality. Actually I didn’t even quite understand why it was even written but that’s part of a different review...

  Part of this story is told through the view point of Jaina after her and brother’s imprisonment after their kidnapping. It was hard starting this one cause I got so wrapped up in Planet of Twilight! The odd thing is this book was written BEFORE Planet of Twilight but happens afterwards! Therefore the author could not include that into her story. The Crystal Star was written by Vonda N. McIntyre which according to the cover has won a number of awards. This book was pretty good. She seemed to have some unique views of the main characters personalities. Luke is portrayed as be moodier then normal which I guess you can can use your imagination and attribute it to his loss of Calista in the last book but like I said that had not happened when this book was written but it sort of works. One thing I found interesting it she is the first author pre The Phantom Menace that questions whether Jedi were suppose to marry are not.

Waru and C3P0

  When reading other reviews, some like parts of this story to something from the Star Trek world not Star Wars... while unlike some Star Wars fans I am a Star Trek fan as well but I have to agree some things were kinda weird, Waru being one thing!

  They also, like in The Courtship of Princess Leia got Luke’s light saber color wrong! How hard is it to remember that he has a GREEN light saber? Why wasn’t this caught before it was published? Back some years ago when the Clone Wars cartoons were out they were selling light sabers for Halloween and I wanted one. I went to by one and all I could find was red and blue! I was puzzled! It was suppose to be green by what I remembered! (At the time I was just getting to watch the second set of movies and hadn’t seen any of the Clone Wars stuff) I ended up buying a blue one and finally realized that they were selling Anakin’s light saber and I was remembering that it was Luke’s that was green. Come on! Even I knew it was green! anyway...


Hethrir

 Some of the things she added to the Star Wars universe sorta bugged me. Where did she ever come up that green streaked hair looks ordinary on a human female? I just don’t know where she got that. Also I don’t understand why some authors must come up with character names that can’t possibly be pronounced!

   But that leads me to the villain of the story, Hethrir. This is where the story most interested me. It didn’t take me long to figure out what inspired a lot of the story and this villain's name. It was clearly a parallel to the Hitler and his Hitler Youth. And so I see where the name Hethrir originated! I actually like the way this was done. I have done a lot of research through a good part of my life on Hitler and that side of WWII. Children were started at a young age to be true to their country and leader. It is a saying I have often quoted be it in my work as an Historian or looking at the current politcs of today "Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it"... even in the Star Wars Universe!

"My program for educating youth is hard. Weakness must be hammered away. In my castles of the Teutonic Order a youth will grow up before which the world will tremble. I want a brutal, domineering, fearless, cruel youth. Youth must be all that. It must bear pain. There must be nothing weak and gentle about it. The free, splendid beast of prey must once again flash from its eyes...That is how I will eradicate thousands of years of human domestication...That is how I will create the New Order." – Adolf Hitler, 1933.

For more about the Hitler Youth visit... THIS SITE

_______________________________________

I will also note quickly that The Crystal Star ends abruptly... most abrupt end I have seen yet. I don’t care for abrupt endings... with that said on to, Before the Storm...